Modblog 12

I forgot how much this blog helped me as a teacher. I started it after being involved in several writing moderation sessions with colleagues and realising that I didn't have the confidence, skill or depth of understanding to justify my judgements fairly and consistently.

I decided to post work on a blog and invite people to add their views and engage in discussion to help come to agreement. Do it yourself CPD really. I wanted to improve my skills in this area so I used a blog help me. I started the blog anonymously ( as I was exposing an area of weakness I suppose ) and looking back now, the blog did its job for me as it gave me confidence I was lacking, and helped me to learn from others to continue to improve my work.

After discussion with several colleagues I'm going to start posting pupils' writing  on the blog again.
All comments are welcome and helpful.


Modblog 12

This piece of writing was based on the game "Bike Baron" and explains how to be a daredevil motorbike stunt racer. ( use any levelling/assessment criteria you prefer)

Modblog 11

 Modblog 11

This writing sample was submitted by a newly qualified teacher working in Year 1. Please feel free to add any comments, suggested assessment levels and questions. This process has been a big help to me as a teacher in terms of consistency and confidence in my own judgements. If you would like to share writing for moderation with other teachers ( anonymously unless you prefer otherwise) then please get in touch by emailing: modblog@hotmail.com

Year 1 writing: Typed up as written by the pupil

In the deep dark dark words. There is mistycle witches house whith a blue roof and vins all arownd it becose... it is aaa wwwitches howwwwse. There are luvle sparlkly shooting stars leeding up to the witchs house.

 

Please add votes/comments. The more people who get involved the better in terms of sharing views.  Use any assessment scheme which works for you!

 

The Criterion Scale is reprodeuced with kind permission from Ros Wilson. 

 

 

 

Modblog 10

 Modblog 10

The aim of this blog is to allow teachers to develop skills in writing moderation and to add comments/votes to help find accurate writing levels. Hopefully it is a safe and productive place for people to practise levelling children's writing and engaging in discussion.

Using this blog has been the most worthwhile CPD experience I have had in 18 years as a teacher. I especially valued the discussion which took place about Modblog 5 
(written by my daughter, Evie) and since then I have felt so much more confident in my own judgements and more at ease with the necessary dialogue and challenge which is central to effective moderation. For their work and contributions I remain grateful for the personalised training given to me by Emma Dawson, Claire Bills, Pete Curtis, James Town, Rebecca Stacey and Ros Wilson. I haven't done too much with Modblog since then because the blog had done it's job, and made me much more confident in this area of my work.

I do hope that teachers are willing to send in samples of writing to me at modblog@hotmail.com to allow visitors to this blog to continue to engage in productive dialogue about children's writing.



The writing sample below was written by Hollie ( year 6) after a visit to Eden Camp Museum in North Yorkshire. Please add your comments/votes.
 

Criterion Scale: Level 3,4,5 ( reproduced with kind permission from Ros Wilson)

APP Writing Grids: Level 3/4  Level 4/5

 

Modblog 9

Modblog 9

This piece of writing was designed to be a motivational speech aimed to encourage pupils to face challenges and reach their goals. The class have been looking at features of motivational speaking as part of a project linked with our local Children's University.

Motivational Speaker

The writer is 10 years old and is at the beginning of year 6. I have been impressed with his progress this term and feel his  potential is  some way beyond the level 3b he achieved in year 5. 

I am going to use the Criterion Scale ( used on this blog with kind permission from Ros Wilson) to try to find a level and hopefully highlight ways forward and next steps. I haven't done this yet ( before posting) because I want to do it as the first comment on the blog and then seen what other people have to contribute.

All comments are welcome and appreciated. This isn't something I have always found easy, particularly in moderation activities but using this blog has given me a lot of help.

 I think sometimes in moderation activites the most vocal members of the group can sway opinion (unintentionally) so perhaps valuable contributions to this blog could lead to a more accurate and considered moderation experience. 

I do hope readers of this are able to add comments in terms of providing an accurate levelled assessment of the writing
( it doesn't need to be with the Criterion Scale), and offer suggestions to take the writer forward. 

Thanks for visiting this site and for ( hopefully!) joining in.

Chris

NP denotes new paragraph- added by the writer

NP in middle added by writer. NP at top of page by teacher ( writer said it was obvious)

Criterion Scale Level 3

Criterion Scale Level 4

Modblog 8

This week's writing is based on the game "Bike Baron" and is the same activity featured in Modblog 6 and based on  the article Raising Standards in Boys' Writing. 

This year I am trying to make an impact on pupil writing through the use of Guest Markers following on from an  idea I read about in the excellent book The Lazy Teacher's Handbook:  How your students learn more when you teach less,  by  Jim Smith. This week's writing also features on the Guest Marker  section of the class blog I work on with David Andrews, which also explains how the Guest Marker project is going to work.

All comments/discussions/votes and suggestions for levels are most welcome. Please join in!

Level outlines: from (Lend me your literacy)

A general overview of Level 2 writing

• Simple and compound sentences with basic connectives that could be repetitive (such as ‘and’, ‘then’ and ‘so’).
• Writing style shows some evidence of purpose and awareness of audience.
• Often uses capital letters and full-stops.
• Writing is organised to show some understanding of the purpose of the task.
• Uses simple noun phrases.

A general overview of Level 3 writing

• Simple and compound sentences with connectives (such as ‘because’, ‘but’ and ‘while’).
• Some variety of sentence openings.
• Writing style is sometimes adapted deliberately and usually relevant to suit the purpose.
• Sentences show an understanding of sentence structure and include accurate use of capital letters and full-stops.
• Speech marks, question marks and exclamation marks sometimes used correctly.
• Some adverbial and noun phrases are used and are sometimes well-chosen.

A general overview of Level 4 writing

• Complex sentences (extra clauses).
• Written in logical paragraphs.
• Awareness of an appropriate opening and ending.
• Commas marking clauses.
• A range of connectives (not just simple ones).
• Apostrophes used.
• Adverbs and noun phrases which are appropriate to the task.

A general overview of Level 5 writing

• Complex sentences, with well-chosen clauses used to have an intentional effect on the reader.
• Written in well-organised paragraphs that are purposely varied in length for effect and are sometimes linked.
• Correct use of ambitious/adventurous vocabulary with figurative language used deliberately to have an impact on the reader.
• Commas used correctly along with a wider range of punctuation (such as brackets, colons, ellipsis and fully punctuated speech).
• A range of connectives used accurately.
• Writing style is almost totally appropriate to the task and individual noun phrases and adverbs are chosen for their impact and according to the purpose of the task.

Modblog 7

Modblog 7 is a beginning of term writing assessment based on a resource available on The Literacy Shed.

Last term the process of shared writing moderation through this blog helped me in lots of ways and I have really valued and enjoyed the input and discussions.

All comments and contributions are welcome.

 Please vote/comment/join in!

Modblog 6

Click this link for Modblog 6 Thanks for contribution from David Andrews http://mrandrewsonline.blogspot.co.uk/ All views/comments/votes welcome.